War's Shift Renews Flight In Chechnya

Russian Troops Pursue Grozny Rebels

SLEPTSOVSKAYA, Russia — Chechen civilians are again being chased out of towns and villages previously declared secured by Russia's military as the war in Chechnya moves west and south of Grozny.

Russian forces Friday consolidated their grip over the capital of the breakaway republic. They expect to declare Grozny "liberated" as early as Saturday.

Yet that imminent victory will not end the Chechen war, now in its fifth month. Thousands of Chechen rebels escaped the Russian siege on Grozny. Many are withdrawing to rebel-held villages and base camps in Chechnya's southern mountains.

Along the way, they are resting or taking refuge in civilian homes. Sometimes they are welcome. Sometimes they are merely taken in by civilians who fear they have no choice.

"They asked us if they could rest in our home," said Zarima Abdurzakova, 27, a nurse from Zakan-Yurt. "We accepted them because, well, they probably would have stayed no matter what."

Abdurzakova said eight rebel fighters camped at her home starting Tuesday. Her neighbors also were inundated, she said, and the rebels said that 4,000 of their comrades had been able to leave Grozny through a corridor opened by Russian troops.

The fighters expected to stay only one night in Zakan-Yurt, Abdurzakova said, but by morning, Russian tanks and armor had the town surrounded.

"They tried to leave several times," she said. "But each time they were blocked."

Finally, Abdurzakova herself left.

On Thursday, Abdurzakova took her wounded sister to the hospital in Sleptsovsk, across the Chechen border in the Russian republic of Ingushetia.

Luisa Abdurzakova's house on the outskirts of Zakan-Yurt hadn't been home to any rebel fighters, her sister said. Yet it took a direct hit from a Russian shell. Shrapnel tore into Luisa's torso and leg.

Zarima Abdurzakova said the rebel fighters at her home talked not of continuing their fight in the mountains but of going to their home villages. She said they seemed healthy but tired of the war.

Asked if she supported the rebels or the Russian troops, she said, "We don't know who to support."

As the rebels continued to flee Friday, Russian armor and warplanes gave chase.

Refugees crossing into neighboring Ingushetia at the Sleptsovskaya checkpoint reported heavy shelling in several towns along the path of the rebel retreat.

"It started with two sorties by bombers," said a refugee describing Russian attacks in towns surrounding Achkhoi-Martan. "Then the artillery started."

Refugees said the shelling continued throughout the night with no letup. Blasts could be heard every five minutes or so.

The Russians claim to have killed more than 1,500 fighters since the rebel exodus from Grozny began. The Chechens concede that they suffered unusually high losses. Some casualties came from Russian artillery, some when the fighters stumbled into a minefield outside Grozny.

Civilians complain that they and not the fighters are again suffering the brunt of the Russian attacks.

Refugees reported civilian deaths in Samashki, Zakan-Yurt and Shaami-Yurt. They could give no concrete figures.

The shelling occurred in towns once deemed under Russian control.

"A hundred times the federals (Russian troops) have cleaned up these towns and said there were no Chechen fighters left," said Maria Magomedovo. "But the fighters can always come back.

"How did the fighters leave Grozny?" she asked. "Why did the federal forces give them a corridor to leave Grozny? That is the question I have for the Russians."

The answer is muddled.

Both sides say rebel forces tried to buy their way out of Grozny early this week as Russian forces slowly closed in on the city center.

The Chechens said the payoff was a typical battlefield bribe in a complex war, a practice that flourished during the first Chechen war from 1994-96.

A leading Russian general, though, said the "bribe" was a ruse. He contended that a battlefield commander only posed as corrupt and that the rebels were intentionally directed into the minefield.

The Russian failed to explain, however, why so many rebels were able to escape. Among those who got away, Russian officials acknowledge, was the Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, Russia's most wanted man.

Many of the rebels, dozens of them wounded, stopped in Alkhan-Kala. When the Russians moved in there, residents said, they arrested many of the wounded and took them to detention camps rather than hospitals.

There also were unconfirmed reports of continued fighting Friday in Alkhan-Kala.

Russian media reported Friday night from Grozny that the capital was "under de facto control of Russian forces." The Russians have raised their flag over the residence of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, who is commanding rebel troops from the southern mountains. They also reported only scattered clashes with mostly disorganized rebel bands.

The Russians accuse the Chechen separatists, some of whom are Islamic fundamentalists, of terrorism. They say the war is needed to wipe out the gangs that they blame for terrorist bombings in Moscow and elsewhere.

Chechen-based gangs also crossed into the neighboring republic of Dagestan last August, attacking government troops and calling for an independent Islamic republic across the Northern Caucasus. Russian troops pushed the Chechens out of Dagestan and, two months later, began their push into Chechnya.